Biomass News

Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation has acquired approximately 48% equity interest of Canada’s Pacific BioEnergy Corporation (PBEC). PBEC in turn has also bought 34% minority interest in Pacific BioEnergy Limited Partnership (PBLP) – giving it 100% ownership of the Prince George manufacturing facility.

Sumitomo Corp has several power generation plants in Japan and it imports a sizeable amount of wood pellets to fuel its biomass power plants in the country. This acquisition by Sumitomo is to ensure stable supply of renewable biomass feedstock for its several biomass plants in Japan in the long term.

European biomass energy market is led by major projects in Denmark. Denmark’s Dong Energy is converting its 1057 MWe/502 MWth Asnaes district heating plant in the city of Kalundborg. The new plant is expected to come online in late 2019 – which will be its seventh coal-fired plant that it has converted to biomass.

The conversion of the Danish coal-fired combined heat and power plant to biomass is underway and Dong Energy signed a 20-year steam and district heating contract with utility Kalundborg Forsyning, pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk and biotech company Novozymes. The contract will help Dong carry out the conversion – with ultimate aim of phasing out coal-fired power by 2023. As per the contract the new plant will supply heat and process steam through the existing district heating network. (more…)

Thailand’s Mitr Phol Grouitr Phol Group via its subsidiary – Panel Plus Bio-Power Co. has started a rubber woodchips based power plant in Hat Yai, Songkhla province of Thailand. It will be Panel Plus Bio-Power Co.’s first biomass power plant.

The 9.9 MW power plant will turn approximately 120,000 tons of rubber woodchips per year into electricity. It has started generating electricity to Panel Plus Group since March 2017.